Eilidh had been a vampire for a long time. She was used to getting what she wanted and she was very rarely surprised anymore. Even when she was human, over 900 years ago, she'd been sure of herself and the world she lived in. One day was much like the next one and she knew what to expect from it.

She didn't like not knowing things. The last few months of her daughter, Reagan, not talking to her and been pure hell, but she was starting to get used to it. The pain of it had dulled and her desire to amend the situation had waned as well.

Reagan would come round. And if she didn't, well, there didn't seem to be much that Eilidh could do about it.

But deliberately ignoring her sire was one thing, being missing and not contacting anyone at all, was something else altogether.

Now, Eilidh was worried. She hadn't been able to have children when she was human so Reagan and Gianna had been extra precious to Eilidh. The bond between a sire and her fledglings was strong, with many nuances and it certainly wasn't always easy. But when you added in the fact that Eilidh also saw her fledgelings as her true children, the idea of losing one of her sireborn was incomprehensible.

*****

Eilidh and Flip were seated at the breakfast bar in Eilidh's apartment above the Quill & Query, shortly after the sun had set. Both Vampires were sipping blood but Flip was the only one who seemed to be calmed by it.

"I'm going after her, Flip," said Eilidh.

"Really? And where are you going to look exactly?"

"Everywhere you didn't!" Eilidh was not in the mood for Flip's attitude tonight.

Flip put her mug in the sink and turned to face Eilidh from a safe distance. Emotional vampires were always dangerous, even to each other.

"Eilidh. Think. You don't know where to look. She could be anywhere. I followed at least three leads and I got nowhere. There was no sign of her. So where are you even going to start?"

"I don't know! But she has to be somewhere! She can't just have vanished!" Eilidh refused to acknowledge the look of pity she saw in Flip's eyes. She was well aware that vampires could just vanish. If Reagan had succumbed to her final death, her body would have turned to ash and she could very well never be found.

"Flip, I know she's not dead. I still feel her, I would know if she was dead and she's not. She is not."

"Okay, Eilidh, she's not dead. Then what do you think's happened to her? Even if she's not talking to you, she doesn't have a problem with me. Or Gianna. So, why is she hiding from us?"

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Eilidh ran her fingers through her long blonde hair in more of a gesture of frustration rather than an attempt to tidy it. Even though she'd just been dead for the last eight hours, she felt exhausted.

"I don't know, I really don't. Maybe she's being held captive?"

"By who? Why? To what end? Eilidh, that doesn't make sense either. And besides, who could hold her captive? She's a powerful vampire in her own right. It would have to be another vampire of equal strength at least. At least! And Reagan's not stupid, they'd have to be pretty damn clebver to get the better of her."

"But she does have a habit of pissing people off, doesn't she? She's always fighting for one noble cause or another and her views on dealing with humans are controversial. Maybe she's annoyed some traditionalists and they're holding her to…I don't know…convert her?"

Eilidh watched Flip think about that for a few seconds.

"Maybe. I guess. As daft as that sounds, it might be a possibility. But Eilidh, I keep going back to the fact that nobody has heard a thing. That doesn't happen. The rumour mill amongst vampires is just not that secretive. There's always at least one that can't keep their mouth shut."

"So, we need to find that one," said Eilidh.

"And we're back to square one. How the fuck are we going to do that when we don't have any leads at all?"

"The Elders Council." Eilidh folded her arms, satisfied that she'd finally found something productive she could do.

"What exactly is an Elders Council?" asked Flip.

"The Elders Council are basically Redbough's city adminstration. They're kind of like the human's Mayor and Councillors. Vander Canmore is a vampire, Megan Ashworth is a witch and Luke Holden is a werewolf. They each hold the same status in the council so that all races can be considered fairly in council decisions. They pretty much run The Lights and some say they have a hold in The Village as well."

"You know how ridiculous that sounds don't you?" Flip counted off on her fingers. "Vampires hate witches, vampires hate werewolves even more, witches hate vampires, witches think werewolves are cute pets. Werewolves hate vampires and werewolves barely tolerate witches. Explain to me how this system works. Or why it's even a thing. Vampires, witches and werewolves have all co-existed nicely and separately so far without having to buddy up and play pretend besties. God, this town is ridiculous."

"It's not ridiculous at all, Flip. It's the whole point of Redbough. The town was created to be a place where all of the races can live together as a community, in harmony and peace."

"Yeah, yeah, you're a walking brochure. And tell me, who is the human representative on this council?"

"Well...um...not all the humans here know we exist yet, so its a bit early to have a human council member. It'll happen in good time."

"Right. And there's been no good time in the last 700 years that this silly little experiment has existed?"

"We can argue politics later, Flip. Right now, I want to know where my daughter is, whether she wants to talk to me or not and the Elder's Council is probably my best shot at finding her. If they'll help us, of course.'

"Why wouldn't they help us? Aren't they here for the people?"

"Yes, well. They're bureaucrats, so there's red tape and all that."

Flip dug in her pockets until she found her keys, "Come on then, lets go talk to them."

"I think I should do this myself, Flip." Eilidh replied to Flip's arched eyebrow. "It's just that you can be a bit...ah...forceful, at times. These politicians need tact and a bit of sucking up too. Neither of these things are particular skills of yours."

"You're not going on your own, sister. We're in this together. I promise I'll keep my mouth shut. Unless I really feel I need to say something."

Eilidh didn't want to waste anymore time arguing with Flip so she simply followed her sire-sister out the door.